Cherry Flavored Starbursts
by jlangblues
Summary: Saturday nights spent at grocery stores, drawing ducks... and now waiting at an airport? Not quite the future Jess Mariano had in mind. Literati.
1. Jess and Leah: Grocery Shopping

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Gilmore Girls

Rating: PGish

A/N: Just a short fluff piece. None of the California stuff happened. Lit-future.

Story Title: Cherry Flavored Starbursts  
  
"Tell your mom she needs to hurry up."

"Mommy, hurry up."

"Tell your dad that he needs to learn how to be more patient."

"Daddy, Mommy says that you need to be patient." I sigh, and look down at the little girl staring up at me. She blinks innocently, and looks at me curiously. I lean my arms down against the shopping cart, and groan loudly.

"This is taking forever," I moan.

"You're acting like you're two," Rory says simply, keeping her back to me. "We've been here for ten minutes, and you sound as if you're going to die." I look up at her, keeping my head on my arms. I glance at the clock on the wall. It's a Saturday night, and I'm shopping at a grocery store. My how the mighty have fallen.

"I think I might," I warn her, and she turns around. She shakes her head at me, before going back to trying to decide exactly what kind of bagels she wants. Bagels. Shopping for bagels at nine o'clock at night. I don't think anyone would ever dare call us normal.

"Daddy's mad?"

"Daddy's pissed."

"Jess! How many times do I have to tell you, don't say that in front of her. I don't want her to turn into some motorcycle riding, cussing girl," Rory mumbles quietly, trying not to scream it out. I roll my eyes, and Leah tries to copy me. Instead, she ends up looking cross-eyed. She frowns, and tries again. After a minute, I wave my hand in front of her face.

"Hey- don't do that. Your face will stick that way if you're not careful."

"Really?"

"That's not anything to get excited about," I inform her, and she considers this for a minute before nodding. She yawns, and swipes at the long brown hair that's falling in front of her eyes. Rory's now moved on from the bagels to the milk. I sigh, and reaching a hand out, brush the hair out of Leah's eyes. She smiles at me and then twists around from her seat in the shopping cart to see what Rory's doing.

"I'm tired," Leah announces sadly.

"Lay down," Rory says distractedly. She closes her eyes, then opens them again. "How can milk honestly cost this much?" I stare at her for a minute, before turning back to Leah. She lays her head down on my arms, and yawns again. After a moment of having her head trying to push its way permanently into my arm, I slide her out of the cart and onto my hip. I don't think she even notices.

"Rory," I say quietly. "Come on. Lets just go." Rory shakes her head, before putting the milk into the cart. She pushes the cart into the next aisle slowly, and I follow behind her. Leah rests her head against my shoulder. Her breath smells like a cherry Starburst.

"Do we need anything else? I forgot to make a list this week, and I can't remember if Leah has any more of those granola bar things," Rory sighs, pushing her hands through her hair. She looks away for a moment before looking back at Leah and me. Shaking her head, she starts to walk again. "No, she definitely finished them up for lunch today. I'll be right back, I think they're in the next aisle." I watch her walk quickly away, and lean against the wall. Sighing, I grip Leah's leg tighter, pushing my other hand into my pocket.

"Daddy," Leah whispers.

"What?"

"Daddy."

"What, Leah?" I ask more sharply this time. She's silent for a minute, before she starts to talk again.

"Where's Mommy?" I sigh, and glance down at her. She's sucking her thumb. I hold her closer to me, and try to pry the damn thumb out of her mouth.

"Don't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a bad habit," I answer her. "And your mom will be back here soon." Leah sighs, and wraps her arms around my neck.

"I wanna go home. Mommy said that she would make me chocolate popcorn tonight," she tells me, as if she's telling me a deep, dark secret. "And then she said that we would watch a movie." I smirk.

"I think you'll be asleep by then."

"No I won't!" she says angrily. "I'm staying up all night."

"That's news to me," I say, and she blushes slightly.

"Can I?" she asks. I shrug, and Leah smiles. She looks behind me, and waves. I turn around. Rory's walking towards us, box of granola bars in hand. She stops walking once she reaches us.

"Got 'em," she says brightly. "I think we're all set." I nod, and Rory pushes the cart towards the check out line. Leah squirms in my arms, pushing me away.

"You keep doing that and I'm gonna drop you." She stops almost instantly, but pouts. I lean my forehead down against hers. "What's up with you?"

"Why are you being so mean to me?" she asks, frowning. Rory stops walking for a minute, but then starts again, more slowly. I sigh.

"I'm not being mean to you."

"Yes you are," she insists. "You're being grouchy and mean, and I don't like you." I look down at her. She sniffles slightly, but doesn't say another word.

"I'm sorry," I say awkwardly after a moment. "I'm sorry I was being mean to you."

"Then why were you?" Leah asks, drawing her eyebrows together. She fiddles with a button on my shirt as I try to come up with an answer. If I don't say something soon, she'll start to cry. And if she starts to cry, then Rory will get mad. And it's not the best thing in the world when Rory gets mad at me because of Leah.

"Guess I just had a bad day. I didn't mean for you to start hating me." Leah thinks, and then shakes her head slowly.

"I don't think I hate you."

"Good. Because I don't hate you either." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rory smiling to herself as she places the milk onto the conveyer belt. I glance back down at Leah. She's laid her head back down on my shoulder, and is asleep. I knew she wouldn't be able to stay up all night. I knew it.


	2. Jess and Leah: Drawing

Disclaimer: Own nothing to do with Gilmore Girls

Rating: PGish

A/N: Haven't posted in a while, so I'm not sure if people remember this story (or me, haha.) But this is just another Jess/Leah scene, set a bit in the future from the previous chapter. Just about how a young family deals with growing up/maturing... all that good stuff. I haven't read anything in the Gilmore World for a long, long time. So if there's another story like this up already... apologies in advance.

* * *

"Can you tell Mommy I miss her?" 

"Leah misses you," I tell her, holding the cordless phone in between my ear and shoulder.

"I miss her, too," Rory says sadly. "I wish I was home." Leah climbs on my lap, curling up and looking at me expectantly. Placing a hand against her back, I tell her, "Mom misses you too." Biting her lip, Leah requests,

"And tell her that I love her?"

"Leah loves you," I say, leaning back in the recliner. She follows suit, tucking her head underneath my chin and wiping her nose against my t-shirt. "That's disgusting," I whisper to her, quietly enough so that Rory can't hear. Leah shrugs, obviously not caring in the least.

"Tell Mommy that I miss her, a _lot_," she stresses.

"Do you want to just talk to her yourself?" Leah frowns at the suggestion, shaking her head wildly, her brown pony-tail swinging back and forth like a pendulum. She kisses me on the cheek before sliding off from the recliner where we'd been sitting and runs upstairs quickly.

"Is she okay?" Rory asks, concerned. "She's not crying, is she?"

"I don't know." Reaching behind me, I grab a month old magazine, flipping through it absent-mindedly.

"I just don't her want her to think that I don't miss her," Rory says quietly, then, "I hate this."

"No, you don't." We've been through this conversation before.

"Okay, I don't hate working again. But I hate being away from her," she amends.

"She'll get used to it," I say, dropping my head into my free hand.

"I don't want her to. That's the awful part. I'm a terrible parent," Rory says, her voice catching. "God, my daughter's four years old, and I leave her just so I can be a stupid reporter. And then I don't want her to stop missing me, because if she stops missing me than that means that I'm not needed, or wanted."

"Rory, this is Leah."

"I know," she says, sniffing loudly, blowing her nose. "I know."

"Leah is obsessed with you. She tries to dress up in your clothes daily. She takes a picture of you with her to pre-school. She refuses to eat anything remotely healthy because of you," I say, making a list. Rory sighs.

"Make sure you're being extra nice to her. I don't want her to feel alone without me."

"Okay," I say, closing the magazine and throwing it lightly on the coffee table. "I'll go then to... make her feel better," I say uncomfortably.

"Really?" Rory asks nervously.

"Really. I'll even let her wipe her nose on my shirt without complaining."

"And read The Cat in the Hat with voices for the different characters?"

"Sure. Nothing but the best for my girl," I say, standing up. "I'll call you tomorrow night, all right?"

"Okay. I love you. And I miss you too, you know."

"Same," I say quietly, before hanging up. Walking slowly up to Leah's room, I wait outside her bedroom door for a minute before going in. She's laying on the floor on her stomach, coloring on a blank sheet of paper. I lay down beside her.

"Hi, Daddy," she says absent-mindedly. "Can you pass the pink?" Reaching across the floor, I snatch up the colored pencil and hand it to her. She begins to draw a lopsided heart.

"So," I begin awkwardly. "Is this for Mom?" She nods slowly but doesn't stop coloring. "You miss her a lot?" Leah shrugs.

"Yeah. She hasn't been home in forever."

"She was home three days ago."

"Daddy," she says, in that tone of voice she uses whenever I start to annoy her. I try again, picking up a colored pencil and staring to fill in the heart. Leah pushes my hand away after a moment, frowning.

"You're coloring it wrong." This coming from the girl who says that a square has five sides. I stare at the colored pencil for a minute, twirling it between my fingers.

"You know, Lee, just because Mom's not home doesn't mean that you have to be sad," I start off, beginning to color again.

"But she's not _here_," Leah says, her small voice cracking.

"Well. Yeah. But I am. And that means that we get to do things by ourselves. Fun... things," I say, stumbling over the words.

"Like what?" she asks curiously.

"Well. We can go to the park and feed the ducks." A smile starts to form on her face, and I take it as a sign to continue. "Uh, jump on the bed. Make macaroni and cheese with extra Swiss. Prank call Uncle Luke." I say things off from the top of my head. "You can come to work with me and help the eleventh graders learn how to pay attention."

"They don't pay attention to you?" she asks, astounded.

"They think that I'm a little too strict," I say, smirking. (Teaching eleventh grade English isn't always the best way to work on keeping my temper in check.) She gives me a watery smile in return, the tears starting to fade.

"But they don't know who I am," she says about the students, dismissing the idea about coming to school with me.

"Trust me, they know you. I have a picture of you on my desk," I inform her. Leah looks excited.

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. They all ask me who you are," I say, in a conspiratorial tone. Her eyes widen in anticipation.

"And what do you say?"

"I say that's Caroline Leigh. Also known as Leah, or the greatest Mariano known to man," I say, and she smiles widely. Placing my hand on the small of her back, I stare at her seriously. "Don't worry about Mom. She'll be back soon. And when she's not here, we'll just do-."

"Daddy and Leah things?" she breaks in.

"Yep." She turns back to her coloring. Crisis averted.

"Mommy's birthday is next week," she announces, as if I had forgotten. "We should buy her something really cool. I mean, she's gonna be old and everything." I try not to laugh once I realize how serious she is about this 'fact'.

"Yeah. Twenty-eight. She's getting up there, all right." We color in silence for a few minutes.

"Can you draw a duck? Mommy likes it when I draw ducks; she always hangs them up in her office," she says proudly. "But don't draw it too big," she instructs suddenly. "Mommy says smaller ones are less... less..." she trails off.

"Pretentious?" I fill in, and Leah smiles gratefully, rubbing her nose against my shirt.

"Yeah. That thing." She wraps her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek loudly. I turn her over and start to tickle her behind the knees. Giggling, she tries to crawl over my back and I flip her up over my shoulders, running down the stairs and tossing her lightly on the couch before she jumps onto my back, yelling at me to play helicopter.

I e-mail the picture of the duck to Rory the next day. She calls and says that she has it hung up on her wall, right next to a picture of Leah and me.

* * *

A/N: My science teacher brought her daughter into class the other day for take-your-daughter to work day. She's really young (my teacher), and I know that her husband works a ton. I started wondering how she manages to keep her life under control and that's where the idea for this whole story came from. Annnyway. Reviews would be love ; ) 


	3. Jess and Leah: Waiting

Disclaimer: Own nothing to do with Gilmore Girls

Rating: PG

A/N: Just another scene from all their lives, set a day or so after the last chapter. Reviews would be love.

* * *

Leah runs faster than I have ever seen any other four year old run. She did not get that from her mother or me.

"Daddy, come on," she moans, pulling on my hand so that I keep up. "I want to see Mommy."

"She's not going anywhere," I tell her for the five thousandth time. "She'll be there even if we're a few seconds late." Leah marches on determinedly, her white sneakers slapping against the floor of the airport loudly.

"I want to see her now," she says, rushing towards the baggage claim. We've been through this routine before. I jog lightly to keep up. Leah pushes past the other people in the baggage claim area bossily before stopping abruptly. "_I_ need to see my mommy," she says to an old man in front of her who isn't getting out of the way. "_You _need to move."

"Leah," I say, warning. She pouts.

"Move now?"

"Caroline Leigh."

"Okay, please, move? I really need to see her," she explains impatiently to the man. "I don't want her to forget about me." He moves out of the way, smiling tightly at me. I nod my head back at him, and let Leah lead me towards the seating area where she knows from experience that Rory will be waiting. Leah's grip on my hand tightens and I start to quicken my pace. She's getting anxious.

Turning one last corner, Leah squeals and drops my hand, sprinting excitedly and catapulting herself into Rory, throwing her arms around her neck. Rory stumbles slightly, her high heels teetering. But she doesn't let go of Leah, wrapping her arms as tightly as she can around her back.

"I missed you, baby," Rory says, looking up at me, smiling.

"I missed you, too," Leah says, her voice muffled as she buries her face in Rory's black jacket. Rory rubs a hand across her back. I lean over Leah and Rory kisses the corner of my mouth quickly. I frown and she mouths, 'later', swaying gently with Leah. After a few minutes, Rory clears her throat gently. Leah doesn't make any motion as to move.

"Leah, Mommy's back is starting to hurt."

"Okay."

"That means you have to get down now, bunny."

"No," Leah says defiantly, hugging Rory closer. "I'm not letting you go," she says, tightening her legs around Rory's waist. Rory looks at me over Leah's head; her arms straining to keep a grasp on her. I motion for her to hand Leah over to me.

"C'mon, Lee. Get down so Mom can regain the feeling in her arms."

"What?" Leah asks, confused. Rory rolls her eyes at me, but pulls back slightly so she can look Leah in the face. Her black skirt is getting wrinkled from Leah digging her shoes into it and she keeps lifting her ankles slightly out of her high heels. She's tired. Her feet hurt. And from the looks of it, Leah's beginning to cut off circulation.

"Mommy's really tired. Daddy wants to hold you now. He's super jealous that you're with me right now," she whispers the last part loudly, nodding at me to start talking. I fold my arms across my chest.

"Man. I wish I could carry Leah out of the airport," I say, scratching the back of my neck. "Then we could go get something to eat, watch a movie... maybe even unwrap some of those presents that Mom has in her suitcase..." Leah squirms eagerly, and Rory puts her down on the ground. Leah rushes over to me, holding her hands up in the air.

"Thank you," Rory breathes out quietly. I motion for Leah to climb on my back. Rory grabs the handle on her suitcase, and we start to make our way out of the airport.

"What did you get me?" Leah asks excitedly. Rory raises her eyebrows, shrugging playfully.

"I'm not sure. It depends on whether you've been a good kid this week."

"I've been great," she says self-confidently. "Daddy and I fed the ducks, and we colored, and then Grandma came over. She was silly," Leah adds, giggling. "She made Daddy clean the house." Rory looks over at me, her eyes widening.

"My mom made you clean the house?"

"Uh, no. Grandma Senior," I correct. "Apparently our daughter's living in a shit hole."

"Jess!" Rory says, pinching me hard on the arm. "Leah, never, ever say that word. Hit Daddy." Leah complies, swatting me on the back of my neck lightly with her hand. "And we do not live in a messy house. It's comfortable," she says.

"She says it smells," I note. "I told her to go-."

"Leah, where do you want to eat?" Rory asks brightly. "I have to go home to change first, do you maybe just want to order something?"

"No, Daddy said he'd take us out to dinner some place-." She breaks off and I can feel her squirming. "Hey, you're _dropping _me," she says indignantly.

"No, I'm not," I say, loosening my grip on her legs, letting her slide down my back a little ways. Rory rolls her eyes at me as Leah continues to protest.

"Yes, you are, and I'm going to fall," she squeals, tightening her arms around my neck. Rory laughs at the sight as we continue walking out of the airport.

* * *

"I think I'm fat."

"What?" It's midnight and she's been staring at herself in the full length mirror in our bedroom for the past half hour.

"You heard me. I'm fat. Big boned. Pleasantly plump." Rory sighs, pinching the sides of her hips. She pulls up the bottom of her tank top, then rolls down her boxer shorts a little more. Biting her bottom lip, she looks at herself, squinting critically. "I had Leah four years ago. Aren't I supposed to be skinny by now? I tried fitting into my jeans from college last week and I couldn't even button them without holding my breath."

"But you _could _still button them," I say, putting my book down on the night stand.

"That's not at all helpful and completely besides the point," she says, holding her hair up with one hand and placing her other hand across her stomach, frowning. "Right now you're supposed to be saying, 'oh, Rory, you're so beautiful. I bet you could still fit in your Chilton skirts from high school'."

I look at her silently in the mirror, raising an eyebrow, and she giggles. "Okay, you're not supposed to say it in a _dirty _way." Turning away from the mirror, she flops onto the bed, burying her head in the comforter. Squirming, she scratches the back of her leg with her hand.

"When did our comforter get so itchy?"

"Probably hasn't been washed in over a year."

"Ew, Jess, don't even say that."

"Well, you're not washing it, I'm sure as hell not washing it... and I'm pretty sure Leah hasn't managed that whole washing machine thing yet." Rory looks up at me, her hair covering her face. I reach over and run a hand through the tangled strands, pushing them away from her eyes. She smiles.

"We should buy a new comforter," she suggests, her eyes lighting up. "Tomorrow, we can go running and then we can go to Bed Bath and Beyond. I can't sleep in this thing, it's probably infested."

"Running?" I ask, backtracking.

"I can't let you be seen in public with me," she says, momentarily sad. "I'm too gross looking. I haven't gotten my hair cut in like, eons. And I'm fat. At least if I go running, I'll feel better about myself."

"Rory, you haven't gone running in ten years."

"Not true," she argues. "I totally went running the day before we got married."

"Oh, so you went running for a block four years ago?"

"Two blocks, and five years ago," she corrects, then looks down. "I don't know, I just don't feel... pretty. I mean, I'm gone three days a week. When I come home, I want to look nice. But I always end up making a mess with Leah, or spilling something on my outfit, and then you always come in looking perfect," she sighs, moving closer so that she can lay her head on my legs.

"Perfect?"

"Yep," she says simply, curling her legs up near her chest.

"I think that's stretching it a little." Rory shakes her head, yawning against the back of her hand. "You're not fat, Rory. You can go running if you want, but it's not going to change anything."

"I just don't want to wake up one day and be looking like one of those girls on What Not to Wear," she says. "I don't think I could handle it if Clinton said that I looked like a lost cause."

"Does he know how much you paid for those pants you wore out to dinner tonight?" I ask, and a light blush goes to her cheeks.

"Well, yeah," she giggles. "But hey, we have two incomes now. Those were definitely worth it." I lean over and kiss her softly. She kisses me back, pulling away slowly. One last time, she asks, "so you don't care? If I gained five pounds?" I suppress the urge to roll my eyes and shake my head instead.

"I think you look sexier with hips, anyway," I say. She smiles gratefully.

"Not a fan of the skin and bones look?" she asks, mock seriously. "Because I always could go running. And start on a raw food diet or something. Carrots. Lettuce. Maybe some granola."

"No, thanks. I prefer the pizza, Chinese, and tacos, to tell you the truth." She wraps her arms around my neck, smiling brightly.

"And that's why I love you."

* * *

A/N: (I always thought Leah would have a lot of Lorelai-ish personality traits.) 


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